1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
United States Marine Corps
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The U. S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U. S. Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military officer in the U. S. Armed Forces, is a Marine Corps general, the Marine Corps has been a component of the U. S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834, working closely with naval forces for training, transportation, and logistics. The USMC operates posts on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world, two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting for independence both at sea and on shore. The role of the Corps has since grown and evolved, expanding to aerial warfare and earning popular titles such as, Americas third air force, and, second land army. By the mid-20th century, the U. S. Marine Corps had become a major theorist of and its ability to rapidly respond on short notice to expeditionary crises gives it a strong role in the implementation and execution of American foreign policy. As of 2016, the USMC has around 182,000 active duty members and it is the smallest of the U. S. The USMC serves as an expeditionary force-in-readiness and this last clause, while seemingly redundant given the Presidents position as Commander-in-chief, is a codification of the expeditionary responsibilities of the Marine Corps. It derives from similar language in the Congressional acts For the Better Organization of the Marine Corps of 1834, in 1951, the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee called the clause one of the most important statutory – and traditional – functions of the Marine Corps. In addition to its duties, the Marine Corps conducts Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operations, as well as missions in direct support of the White House. The Marine Band, dubbed the Presidents Own by Thomas Jefferson, Marines from Ceremonial Companies A & B, quartered in Marine Barracks, Washington, D. C. The Executive Flight Detachment also provides transport to Cabinet members. The relationship between the Department of State and the U. S. Marine Corps is nearly as old as the corps itself, for over 200 years, Marines have served at the request of various Secretaries of State. After World War II, an alert, disciplined force was needed to protect American embassies, consulates, in 1947, a proposal was made that the Department of War furnish Marine Corps personnel for Foreign Service guard duty under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Department of State and the Secretary of the Navy on December 15,1948, during the first year of the MSG program,36 detachments were deployed worldwide. Continental Marines manned raiding parties, both at sea and ashore, the Advanced Base Doctrine of the early 20th century codified their combat duties ashore, outlining the use of Marines in the seizure of bases and other duties on land to support naval campaigns. Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Marine detachments served aboard Navy cruisers, battleships, Marine detachments served in their traditional duties as a ships landing force, manning the ships weapons and providing shipboard security. Marines would develop tactics and techniques of amphibious assault on defended coastlines in time for use in World War II, during World War II, Marines continued to serve on capital ships
3.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
4.
11th Marine Regiment (United States)
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The 11th Marine Regiment is an artillery regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. Known as the Cannon Cockers, the regiment falls under the command of the 1st Marine Division, the 11th Marine Regiment was activated during World War I on 3 January 1918. Originally planned as a artillery regiment, it was converted to an infantry unit. It failed to see combat and returned home to be disbanded on 11 August 1919, on 9 May 1927, another 11th Regiment was activated from troops in Haiti and at Quantico for service in Nicaragua of brief duration. The regimental headquarters was disbanded on 31 July 1927, and the two battalions in September, a third battalion was organized on the east coast on 21 March 1928. Again, service in Nicaragua was brief, with the battalion being disbanded on 15 June 1929. With the approach of World War II and the consequent expansion of the Marine Corps, activation of the regiments organic battalions already had been underway since 1 September 1940 when the 1st Battalion was created. After its return to the United States from Cuba, the regiment shipped overseas with the 1st Marine Division to New Zealand in June–July 1942, the 1st Battalion went to Samoa with the 7th Marine Regiment in March 1942. The 11th Marines participated in the Battle of Guadalcanal in August with the 1st Marine Division and played a significant part in the Battle of the Tenaru. The 1st Battalion rejoined the regiment in September on Guadalcanal, on 15 December 1942, the 11th Marines left Guadalcanal for Australia, rested and reorganized, and then reentered combat on New Britain at Cape Gloucester on 26 December 1943. Here the regiment furnished support to the infantry in their capture of the Japanese aerodrome, following the New Britain campaign came a period of preparation for the Peleliu landing where the regiment was actively engaged. For the first two weeks after the landing on 15 September 1944, the regiment took part in the Battle of Peleliu. All artillery support was handled both novelly and conventionally, providing massed preparatory, harassing, and interdicting fire, later, the artillery was used to fire directly into the mouths of enemy caves. In March 1945, the 11th Marines participated in the Battle of Okinawa, there the regiment played an important defensive role with effective counter-battery fire, and steadily suppressed enemy attempts to counter-attack objectives already won by U. S. forces. Early in 1947, the regiment returned to the United States to be reduced virtually to a battalion-sized unit. Three years later North Korea invaded South Korea, and the 1st Battalion was part of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade deployed in August 1950 to the Pusan Perimeter to help stem their advance. Other battalions were organized in the United States and were available for service when the 1st Marine Division made the Incheon landing, shifted back to the east coast of Korea, the battalions were attached to regimental combat teams and participated in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. One of the more famous engagements of the regiment during the Korean War came on 7 December 1950 during the breakout from the Chosin Reservoir, George and How Batteries of 2nd Battalion were halted along the main road by heavy machine gun fire
5.
1st Marine Division (United States)
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The 1st Marine Division is a Marine infantry division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force. It is the oldest and largest active duty division in the United States Marine Corps and it is one of three active duty divisions in the Marine Corps today and is a multi-role, expeditionary ground combat force. It is nicknamed The Old Breed, the division is employed as the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force or may provide task-organized forces for assault operations and such operations as may be directed. The 5th Marines were created in Vera Cruz, Mexico on 13 July 1914 and participated in 15 major engagements during World War I, including Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry, and St. Mihiel. On 7 August 1917, 7th Marines were activated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 11th Marines was formed in January 1918 at Quantico, Va. as a light artillery regiment. The regiment went to France as a unit, providing a machine gun company. Decommissioned and reactivated twice between the wars, the regiment was re-formed in 1940 as a full-fledged artillery unit. The 1st Marine Division was activated aboard the USS Texas on 1 February 1941, the 1st Raider Battalion was on New Caledonia, and the 3rd Defense Battalion was in Pearl Harbor. All of the units, with the 11th Marines and 75mm howitzer armed 10th Marines battalion would rendezvous at Fiji. Also, because the Wellington dock workers were on strike at the time, other things not yet available to this first wave of Marine deployments were insect repellent and mosquito netting. On 31 July the entire Marine task force was placed under the command of Vice Admiral Frank J. Fletchers Task Force 61, the division as a whole would fight in the Guadalcanal Campaign until relieved at 1400 on 9 December 1942 by Alexander Patchs Americal Division. This operation won the Division its first of three World War II Presidential Unit Citations, the battle would cost the division 650 killed in action,1,278 wounded in action with a further 8,580 contracting malaria and 31 missing in action. Others were awarded for the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa, following the Guadalcanal Campaign, the divisions Marines were sent to Melbourne, Australia for rest and refit. It was during this time that the division took the traditional Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda as its battle hymn, to this day, 1st Division Marines still ship out to this song being played. The division would see action during Operation Cartwheel which was the codename for the campaigns in Eastern New Guinea. They came ashore at the Battle of Cape Gloucester on 26 December 1943 and fought on New Britain until March 1944 at such places as Suicide Creek, during the course of the battle the division had 310 killed and 1,083 wounded. Following the battle they were sent to Pavuvu in the Russell Islands for rest, the next battle for the 1st Marine Division would be the bloodiest yet at the Battle of Peleliu
6.
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
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Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps. The base was established in 1942 to train U. S, Marines for service in World War II. By October 1944, Camp Pendleton was declared a permanent installation and by 1946 and it was named after Major General Joseph Henry Pendleton, who had long advocated setting up a training base for the Marine Corps on the west coast. Today it is the home to myriad Operating Force units including the I Marine Expeditionary Force, in 1769, a Spanish expedition led by Captain Gaspar de Portolá explored northward from Loreto, Baja California Sur, seeking to reach Monterey Bay, something never before done overland by Europeans. On July 20 of that year, the arrived in the area now known as Camp Pendleton. The expedition went on to military outposts and Franciscan missions at San Diego. During the next 30 years,21 missions were established, the most productive one being Mission San Luis Rey, at that time, San Luis Rey Mission had control over the Santa Margarita area. After 1821, following the Mexican War of Independence from Spain, the retired soldiers were joined as rancheros by prominent businessmen, officials and military leaders. They and their children, the Californios, became the landed gentry of Alta California, in 1841, two brothers, Pio Pico and Andrés Pico, became the first private owners of Rancho Santa Margarita. More land was added to the grant, giving it the name of Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores. The design of the cattle brand is seen in the bases logo today. In 1863, an Englishman named John Forster paid off Picos gambling debts in return for the deed to the ranch. During his tenure as owner of the ranch, he expanded the house, which was first built in 1827. It was purchased by wealthy cattleman James Clair Flood and managed by Irishman Richard ONeill, under the guidance of ONeills son, Jerome, the ranch began to net a profit of nearly half a million dollars annually, and the house was modernized and furnished to its present form. In the early 1940s, both the Army and the Marine Corps were looking for land for a training base. It was named for Major General Joseph Henry Pendleton who had advocated the establishment of a West Coast training base. Construction began in April but the base was considered a temporary facility so it was built to standards of wood frame construction. After five months of building activity, the 9th Marine Regiment
7.
San Diego County, California
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San Diego County is a county in the southwestern corner of the state of California, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,095,313, making it Californias second-most populous county and the fifth-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is San Diego, the eighth-most populous city in the United States and it is the south-westernmost county in the 48 contiguous United States. San Diego County comprises the San Diego-Carlsbad Metropolitan Statistical Area, San Diego is also part of the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area shared between the United States and Mexico. Greater San Diego ranks as the 38th largest metropolitan area in the Americas, San Diego County has 70 miles of coastline. Most of the county has a mild Mediterranean climate to climate, though there are mountains that receive frost. There are also 16 naval and military installations of the U. S. Navy, U. S. Marine Corps, and these include the Naval Base San Diego, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and Naval Air Station North Island. From north to south, San Diego County extends from the borders of Orange County and Riverside County to the Mexico–United States border. From west to east, San Diego County stretches from the Pacific Ocean to its boundary with Imperial County, the area which is now San Diego County has been inhabited for more than 10,000 years by Kumeyaay, Luiseño, Cupeño and Cahuilla Indians. In 1542, the Portuguese-born explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for Spain, claimed San Diego Bay for the Spanish Empire, and he named the site San Miguel. In November 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma and named the area for Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego. European settlement in what is now San Diego County began with the founding of the San Diego Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá by Spanish soldiers and this county was part of Alta California under the Viceroyalty of New Spain until the Mexican declaration of independence. From 1821 through 1848 this area was part of Mexico, San Diego County became part of the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, ending the U. S. -Mexican War. San Diego County was one of the counties of California. At the time of its establishment in 1850, San Diego County was relatively large, as such it included areas of what are now Inyo County and San Bernardino County, as well as all of what is now Riverside County and Imperial County. During the later part of the 19th century, there were changes in the boundaries of San Diego County. The most recent changes were the establishments of Riverside County in 1893, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 4,526 square miles, of which 4,207 square miles is land and 319 square miles is water. The county is larger in area than the states of Rhode Island
8.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
9.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
10.
Guadalcanal Campaign
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It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan. The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. Powerful American and Australian naval forces supported the landings, surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November to retake Henderson Field. In December, the Japanese abandoned their efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their forces by 7 February 1943. The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms Allied victory in the Pacific theater, along with the Battle of Midway, it has been called a turning point in the war against Japan. The Japanese had reached the peak of their conquests in the Pacific, on 7 December 1941, Japanese forces attacked the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack crippled much of the U. S. battleship fleet and precipitated an open, to further those goals, Japanese forces captured the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, New Britain and Guam. Joining the U. S. in the war against Japan were the rest of the Allied powers, several of whom, including the United Kingdom, Australia, coral Sea was a tactical stalemate, but a strategic Allied victory which became clear only much later. Up to this point, the Allies had been on the defensive in the Pacific, originally the objectives were the occupation of the Santa Cruz Islands, codenamed Huddle, Tulagi, codenamed Watchtower, and adjacent positions. Guadalcanal, eventually the focus of the operation, was not even mentioned in the early directive, the Imperial Japanese Navy had occupied Tulagi in May 1942 and had constructed a seaplane base nearby. By August 1942, the Japanese had about 900 naval troops on Tulagi and these bases would protect Japans major base at Rabaul, threaten Allied supply and communication lines and establish a staging area for a planned offensive against Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa. The Japanese planned to deploy 45 fighters and 60 bombers to Guadalcanal, in the overall strategy for 1942 these aircraft could provide air cover for Japanese naval forces advancing farther into the South Pacific. The Allied plan to invade the southern Solomons was conceived by U. S. Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. He proposed the offensive to deny the use of the islands by the Japanese as bases to threaten the supply routes between the United States and Australia and to use them as starting points. With US President Franklin D. Roosevelts tacit consent, King also advocated the invasion of Guadalcanal, an early obstacle was a desire by both the Army and Roosevelt to initiate action in Europe. The directive held that the goal was the American reconquest of the Philippines. Joint Chiefs of Staff created the South Pacific theater, with Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley taking command on 19 June 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz, based at Pearl Harbor, was designated as overall Allied commander in chief for Pacific forces. In preparation for the offensive in the Pacific in May 1942, other Allied land, naval and air force units were sent to establish or reinforce bases in Fiji, Samoa, New Hebrides and New Caledonia
11.
Operation Cartwheel
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Operation Cartwheel was a major military operation for the Allies in the Pacific theater of World War II. Cartwheel was an operation aimed at neutralizing the major Japanese base at Rabaul, Allied forces from the Pacific Ocean Areas command, under Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, advanced through the Solomon Islands toward Bougainville. The Allied forces involved were from Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, MacArthur formulated a strategic outline, the Elkton Plan, to capture Rabaul from bases in Australia and New Guinea. Admiral Ernest J. King, the Chief of Naval Operations, proposed a plan with similar elements, army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, whose goal was for the U. S. This strategic plan, which was never adopted by the U. S. MacArthurs air forces countered in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea from 2–5 March 1943. MacArthur had presented Elkton III, his plan for taking Rabaul before 1944. It called for an attack by MacArthur against northeast New Guinea and western New Britain and this plan required seven more divisions than were already in the theater, raising objections from the British. The Joint Chiefs responded with a directive that approved the plan using forces already in the theater or en route to it, Elkton III then became Operation Cartwheel. The Cartwheel plan identified 13 proposed subordinate operations and set a timetable for their launching, of the 13, Rabaul, Kavieng, and Kolombangara were eventually eliminated as too costly and unnecessary, and 10 were actually undertaken. The U. S. 6th Army—under General Walter Krueger—was to take Kiriwina, Woodlark, the land forces would be supported by Allied air units under Lieutenant General George Kenney and naval units under Vice Admiral Arthur S. Carpender. In the midst of Operation Cartwheel, the Joint Chiefs met with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, there, the decision was made to bypass and isolate Rabaul rather than attempting to capture the base and attack Kavieng instead. Soon after the decision was made to bypass Kavieng as well, brief synopsis of Allied campaign to isolate Rabaul. Brief account of Japanese occupation of Rabaul and subsequent war crimes trials of many of the Japanese troops who had stationed there. Time of the Aces, Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942-1944, marines in World War II Commemorative Series. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U. S. Marine Corps, account of U. S. Marine involvement in air war over Solomon Islands and Rabaul. World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Major Gregory Pappy Boyington, archived from the original on 2006-05-09. Information on Pappy Boyington Title, THE ASSAULT ON RABAUL, Operations by the Royal New Zealand Air Force December 1943 — May 1944
12.
Battle of Peleliu
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Marines of the First Marine Division, and later soldiers of the U. S. Armys 81st Infantry Division, fought to capture an airstrip on the small coral island. This battle was part of an offensive campaign known as Operation Forager. Major General William Rupertus, predicted the island would be secured within four days, the National Museum of the Marine Corps called it the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines. There was disagreement among the U. S, joint Chiefs over two proposed strategies to defeat the Japanese Empire. The strategy proposed by General Douglas MacArthur called for the recapture of the Philippines, followed by the capture of Okinawa, both strategies included the invasion of Peleliu, but for different reasons. The 1st Marine Division had already chosen to make the assault. President Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to Pearl Harbor to personally meet both commanders and hear their arguments, however, before MacArthur could retake the Philippines, the Palau Islands, specifically Peleliu and Angaur, were to be neutralized and an airfield built to protect MacArthurs right flank. By 1944, Peleliu Island was occupied by about 11,000 Japanese of the 14th Infantry Division with Korean and Okinawan laborers, Colonel Kunio Nakagawa, commander of the divisions 2nd Regiment, led the preparations for the islands defense. After their losses in the Solomons, Gilberts, Marshalls and Marianas and they chose to abandon the old strategy of stopping the enemy at the beach. The new tactics would only disrupt the landings at the waters edge, Colonel Nakagawa used the rough terrain to his advantage, by constructing a system of heavily fortified bunkers, caves and underground positions all interlocked into a honeycomb system. The old banzai charge attack was discontinued as being both wasteful of men and ineffective. These changes would force the Americans into a war of attrition requiring increasingly more resources, the Umurbrogol contained some 500 limestone caves, interconnected by tunnels. Many of these were former mine shafts that were turned into defense positions, engineers added sliding armored steel doors with multiple openings to serve both artillery and machine guns. Cave entrances were built slanted as a defense against grenade and flamethrower attacks, the Japanese were well armed with 81 mm and 150 mm mortars and 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons, backed by a light tank unit and an anti-aircraft detachment. The Japanese also used the terrain to their advantage. The northern end of the landing beaches faced a 30-foot coral promontory that overlooked the beaches from a small peninsula, holes were blasted into the ridge to accommodate a 47 mm gun, and six 20-mm cannons. The positions were then sealed shut, leaving just a small firing slit to assault the beaches, similar positions were crafted along the 2-mile stretch of landing beaches. A battalion was placed along the beach to defend against the landing, on Peleliu, American planners chose to land on the southwest beaches because of their proximity to the airfield on South Peleliu
13.
Battle of Okinawa
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The 82-day-long battle lasted from 1 April until 22 June 1945. The Tenth was unique in that it had its own air force. The battle has been referred to as the typhoon of steel in English, the nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of Japanese kamikaze attacks, and the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific, with an total of over 82,000 direct casualties on both sides,14,009 Allied deaths and 77,417 Japanese soldiers. Allied grave registration forces counted 110,071 dead bodies of Japanese soldiers,149,425 Okinawans were killed, committed suicide or went missing, a significant proportion of the estimated pre-war 300,000 local population. As part of the operations surrounding the battle, the Japanese battleship Yamato was sunk. After the battle, Okinawa provided an anchorage, troop staging areas. Expeditionary Troops under Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. with Tenth Army, TF56 was the largest force within TF50 and was built around the 10th Army. The army had two corps under its command, III Amphibious Corps, consisting of 1st and 6th Marine Divisions, the 2nd Marine Division was an afloat reserve, and Tenth Army also controlled the 27th Infantry Division, earmarked as a garrison, and 77th Infantry Divisions. In all, the Army had over 102,000 soldiers, at the start of Battle of Okinawa 10th Army had 182,821 men under its command. It was planned that General Buckner would report to Turner until the phase was completed. Although Allied land forces were composed of U. S. units. Although all the carriers were provided by Britain, the carrier group was a combined British Commonwealth fleet with British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian ships. Their mission was to neutralize Japanese airfields in the Sakishima Islands, most of the air-to-air fighters and the small dive bombers and strike aircraft were U. S. Navy carrier-based airplanes. The Japanese land campaign was conducted by the 67, 000-strong regular 32nd Army and some 9,000 Imperial Japanese Navy troops at Oroku naval base, supported by 39,000 drafted local Ryukyuan people. The Japanese had used kamikaze tactics since the Battle of Leyte Gulf, between the American landing on 1 April and 25 May, seven major kamikaze attacks were attempted, involving more than 1,500 planes. The 32nd Army initially consisted of the 9th, 24th, and 62nd Divisions, the 9th Division was moved to Taiwan prior to the invasion, resulting in shuffling of Japanese defensive plans. Primary resistance was to be led in the south by Lt. General Mitsuru Ushijima, his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Isamu Chō and his chief of operations, Yahara advocated a defensive strategy, whilst Chō advocated an offensive one
14.
Korean War
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The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the days of World War II. In August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, U. S. forces subsequently moved into the south. By 1948, as a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Korea was split into two regions, with separate governments, both governments claimed to be the legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither side accepted the border as permanent. The conflict escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces—supported by the Soviet Union, on that day, the United Nations Security Council recognized this North Korean act as invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire. On 27 June, the Security Council adopted S/RES/83, Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea and decided the formation, twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing 88% of the UNs military personnel. After the first two months of war, South Korean forces were on the point of defeat, forced back to the Pusan Perimeter, in September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Inchon, and cut off many North Korean troops. Those who escaped envelopment and capture were rapidly forced back north all the way to the border with China at the Yalu River, at this point, in October 1950, Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war. Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951, after these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of fighting became a war of attrition, with the front line close to the 38th parallel. The war in the air, however, was never a stalemate, North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in combat for the first time in history. The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed, the agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no treaty has been signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war. Periodic clashes, many of which are deadly, continue to the present, in the U. S. the war was initially described by President Harry S. Truman as a police action as it was an undeclared military action, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. In South Korea, the war is referred to as 625 or the 6–2–5 Upheaval. In North Korea, the war is referred to as the Fatherland Liberation War or alternatively the Chosǒn War. In China, the war is called the War to Resist U. S
15.
Battle of Pusan Perimeter
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The Battle of Pusan Perimeter was a large-scale battle between United Nations and North Korean forces lasting from August 4 to September 18,1950. It was one of the first major engagements of the Korean War, an army of 140,000 UN troops, having been pushed to the brink of defeat, were rallied to make a final stand against the invading North Korean army,98,000 men strong. The massive North Korean assaults were unsuccessful in forcing the United Nations troops back further from the perimeter, North Korean troops, hampered by supply shortages and massive losses, continually staged attacks on UN forces in an attempt to penetrate the perimeter and collapse the line. However, the UN used the port to amass an overwhelming advantage in troops, equipment, and logistics, after six weeks, the North Korean force collapsed and retreated in defeat after the UN force launched a counterattack at Inchon on September 15. The battle would be the furthest the North Korean troops would advance in the war, the United States subsequently sent ground forces to the Korean peninsula with the goal of fighting back the North Korean invasion and to prevent South Korea from collapsing. The division was understrength, and most of its equipment was antiquated due to reductions in military spending, regardless, the 24th Infantry Division was ordered into South Korea. Advance elements of the 24th Infantry Division were badly defeated in the Battle of Osan on July 5, for the first month after the defeat of Task Force Smith, 24th Infantry Division soldiers were repeatedly defeated and forced south by the North Korean forces superior numbers and equipment. The regiments of the 24th Infantry Division were systematically pushed south in battles around Chochiwon, Chonan, the 24th Infantry Division made a final stand in the Battle of Taejon, being almost completely destroyed but delaying North Korean forces from advancing until July 20. By that time, the Eighth Armys force of troops was roughly equal to North Korean forces attacking the region. Having captured Taejon, North Korean forces began surrounding the Pusan Perimeter from all sides in an attempt to envelop it, the North Korean 4th Infantry Division and the North Korean 6th Infantry Division advanced south in a wide maneuver. The two divisions were coordinating to envelop the UNs left flank and were spread out. They advanced on UN positions, repeatedly pushing back US and South Korean forces, in the east, the North Korean army,89,000 men strong, had advanced into South Korea in six columns, catching the Republic of Korea Army by surprise and completely routing it. The smaller South Korean army suffered from lack of organization and equipment. Numerically superior, North Korean forces destroyed isolated resistance from the 38,000 South Korean soldiers on the front before moving steadily south, most of South Koreas forces retreated in the face of the advance. By June 28, the North Koreans had captured South Koreas capital of Seoul, forcing the government, though it was steadily pushed back, South Korean forces increased their resistance further south, hoping to delay North Korean units as much as possible. North and South Korean units sparred for control of several cities, the ROK Army defended Yongdok fiercely before being forced back, and managed to repel North Korean forces in the Battle of Andong. In the west, US forces were pushed back repeatedly before finally halting the North Korean advance, soon after, Chinju to the west was taken, pushing back the 19th Infantry Regiment and leaving open routes to Pusan. US units were able to defeat and push back the North Koreans on the flank in the Battle of the Notch on August 2
16.
Battle of Inchon
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The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations. The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, the code name for the operation was Operation Chromite. The battle began on 15 September 1950 and ended on 19 September, the battle ended a string of victories by the invading North Korean Peoples Army. The subsequent UN recapture of Seoul partially severed the NKPAs supply lines in South Korea, the United Nations and South Korean forces were commanded by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of the United States Army. MacArthur was the force behind the operation, overcoming the strong misgivings of more cautious generals to a risky assault over extremely unfavorable terrain. The North Korean strategy was to aggressively pursue U. N, from their initial 25 June offensive to fights in July and early August, the North Koreans used this tactic to defeat any UN force they encountered and push it south. When the North Koreans approached the Pusan Perimeter on 5 August, on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, the South Koreans repulsed three North Korean divisions at the Battle of Pohang-dong. The North Korean attacks stalled as U. N. forces, well equipped and with reserve units to draw upon. All along the front, the North Korean troops reeled from these defeats, by the end of August the North Korean troops had been pushed beyond their limits and many of the original units were at far reduced strength and effectiveness. Logistic problems racked the North Korean army, and shortages of food, weapons, equipment, however, the North Korean force retained high morale and enough supply to allow for another large-scale offensive. The attack caught U. N. forces by surprise and almost overwhelmed them, North Korean troops attacked Kyongju, surrounded Taegu and Ka-san, recrossed the Naktong Bulge, threatened Yongsan, and continued their attack at Masan, focusing on Nam River and Haman. However, despite their efforts, in one of the most brutal fights of the Korean War, unable to hold their gains, the North Korean army retreated from the offensive a much weaker force, and vulnerable to counterattack. Days after the beginning of the war, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, the city had fallen in the first days of the war in the First Battle of Seoul. MacArthur later wrote that he thought the North Korean army would push the Republic of Korea Army back far past Seoul. MacArthur felt that he could turn the tide if he made a troop movement behind enemy lines. He had originally envisioned such a landing, code named Operation Bluehearts, for 22 July, however, by 10 July the plan was abandoned as it was clear the 1st Cavalry Division would be needed on the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur decided instead to use the U. S. Armys 7th Infantry Division, his last reserve unit in East Asia, in preparation for the invasion, MacArthur activated the U. S. Throughout August, MacArthur faced the challenge of re-equipping the 7th Infantry Division as it had sent 9,000 of its men to reinforce the Pusan Perimeter and was far understrength and he also faced the challenge that the U. S. S
17.
Battle of Chosin Reservoir
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The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as the Chosin Reservoir Campaign or the Changjin Lake Campaign, was a decisive battle in the Korean War. The name Chosin is derived from the Japanese pronunciation Chōshin of the Chinese word 長津, the UN forces relied on Japanese language maps dating from their occupation of Korea which had only ended five years earlier at the conclusion of World War II. Shortly after the Peoples Republic of China entered the conflict, the Peoples Volunteer Army 9th Army infiltrated the northeastern part of North Korea, on 27 November 1950, the Chinese 9th Army surprised the US X Corps commanded by Major General Edward Almond at the Chosin Reservoir area. A brutal 17-day battle in freezing weather soon followed, the UN forces were nonetheless able to make a fighting withdrawal and broke out of the encirclement while inflicting crippling losses on the Chinese. The evacuation of the X Corps from the port of Hungnam marked the withdrawal of UN troops from North Korea. By mid-1950 after the landing at Inchon by the US X Corps and the subsequent destruction of the Korean Peoples Army. United Nations forces advanced rapidly into North Korea with the intention of reuniting North and South Korea before the end of 1950, North Korea is divided through the center by the impassable Taebaek Mountains, which separated the UN forces into two groups. The US Eighth Army advanced north through the western coast of the Korean Peninsula, while the Republic of Korea I Corps, at the same time the Peoples Republic of China entered the conflict after issuing several warnings to the United Nations. On 19 October 1950, large formations of Chinese troops, dubbed the Peoples Volunteer Army, secretly crossed the border, one of the first Chinese units to reach the Chosin Reservoir area was the PVA 42nd Corps, and it was tasked with stopping the eastern UN advances. On 25 October, the advancing ROK I Corps made contact with the Chinese and halted at Funchilin Pass, south of the Chosin Reservoir. After the landing at Wonsan, the US 1st Marine Division of the X Corps engaged the defending PVA 124th Division on 2 November, and the ensuing battle caused heavy casualties among the Chinese. On 6 November, the PVA 42nd Corps ordered a retreat to the north with the intention of luring the UN forces into the Chosin Reservoir. By 24 November, the 1st Marine Division occupied both Sinhung-ni on the side of the reservoir, and Yudami-ni on the west side of the reservoir. Faced with the attacks by Chinese forces in the Eighth Army sector. To support the offensive, MacArthur ordered the X Corps to attack west from the Chosin Reservoir, as a response, Major General Edward M. Almond, commander of the US X Corps, formulated a plan on 21 November. It called for the US 1st Marine Division to advance west through Yudami-ni, the US 3rd Infantry Division would also protect the left flank while providing security in the rear area. By then the X Corps was stretched thin along a 400-mile front, under Maos urgent orders, the 9th Corps Army was rushed into North Korea on 10 November. Undetected by UN intelligence, the 9th Corps Army quietly entered the Chosin Reservoir area on 17 November, Chosin Reservoir is a man-made lake located in the northeast of the Korean peninsula
18.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
19.
Gulf War
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The Iraqi Armys occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, an array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost, the war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991 and this was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself, Gulf War, a problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts, see Gulf War. The use of the term Persian Gulf is also disputed, see Persian Gulf naming dispute, with no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Other language terms include French, la Guerre du Golfe and German, Golfkrieg, German, Zweiter Golfkrieg, French, most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the wars operational phases. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the conflict from 17 January 1991. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations from 24–28 February 1991, in itself. Operation Desert Farewell was the given to the return of US units and equipment to the US in 1991 after Kuwaits liberation. Operation Granby was the British name for British military activities during the operations, Opération Daguet was the French name for French military activities in the conflict. Operation Friction was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta was the Italian name for the operations, in addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. The US divided the conflict into three campaigns, Defense of Saudi Arabian country for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991
20.
War on Terror
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The War on Terror, also known as the Global War on Terrorism, is a metaphor of war referring to the international military campaign that started after the September 11th attacks on the United States. U. S. President George W. Bush first used the term War on Terror on 20 September 2001 and it was originally used with a particular focus on countries associated with Islamic terrorist organizations including al-Qaeda and like-minded organizations. In 2013, President Barack Obama announced that the United States was no longer pursuing a War on Terror, in 2017 Donald Trump assumed presidency of the United States and vowed that the fight against ISIL is his number one priority. Trump has also agreed to work together and carry joint operations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war on terror. The phrase War on Terror has been used to refer to the ongoing military campaign led by the U. S. The conflict has also referred to by names other than the War on Terror. Author Shane Harris asserts this was a reaction to the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, Bush later apologized for this remark due to the negative connotations the term crusade has to people, e. g. of the Muslim faith. The word crusade was not used again, on 20 September 2001, during a televised address to a joint session of Congress, Bush stated that ur war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, in April 2007, the British government announced publicly that it was abandoning the use of the phrase War on Terror as they found it to be less than helpful. This was explained more recently by Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, in her 2011 Reith lecture, the former head of MI5 said that the 9/11 attacks were a crime, not an act of war. So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror. U. S. President Barack Obama has rarely used the term, in March 2009 the Defense Department officially changed the name of operations from Global War on Terror to Overseas Contingency Operation. In March 2009, the Obama administration requested that Pentagon staff members avoid the use of the term, basic objectives of the Bush administration war on terror, such as targeting al Qaeda and building international counterterrorism alliances, remain in place. Because the actions involved in the war on terrorism are diffuse, jackson cites among many examples a statement by John Ashcroft that the attacks of September 11 drew a bright line of demarcation between the civil and the savage. Administration officials also described terrorists as hateful, treacherous, barbarous, mad, twisted, perverted, without faith, parasitical, inhuman, Americans, in contrast, were described as brave, loving, generous, strong, resourceful, heroic, and respectful of human rights. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, a small number of Afghan Arab volunteers joined the fight against the Soviets, including Osama bin Laden, but there is no evidence they received any external assistance. On 7 August 1998, al-Qaeda struck the U. S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, the plant produced much of the regions antimalarial drugs and around 50% of Sudans pharmaceutical needs. The strikes failed to kill any leaders of WIFJAJC or the Taliban, next came the 2000 millennium attack plots, which included an attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport
21.
Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing
22.
Operation Enduring Freedom
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Operation Enduring Freedom comprises several subordinate operations, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, lasted from October 2001 to 31 December 2014. Government used the term Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan to officially describe the War in Afghanistan, continued operations in Afghanistan by the United States military forces, both non-combat and combat, now occur under the name Operation Freedoms Sentinel. In September 2001, U. S. President George W, the term OEF-A typically refers to the phase of the War in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Other operations, such as the Georgia Train and Equip Program, are loosely or nominally connected. All the operations, however, have a focus on counterterrorism activities, Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, which was a joint U. S. U. K. and Afghan operation, was separate from the International Security Assistance Force, which was an operation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations including the U. S. and the U. K. The two operations ran in parallel, although it had suggested that they merge. S. and British ships. The initial military objectives of OEF-A, as articulated by President George W, of those groups included are Abu Sayyaf Group, al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The operation consisted of training the AFP in counter-terrorist operations as well as supporting the people with humanitarian aid in Operation Smiles. In October 2002, the Combined Task Force 150 and United States military Special Forces established themselves in Djibouti at Camp Lemonnier, the stated goals of the operation were to provide humanitarian aid and patrol the Horn of Africa to reduce the abilities of terrorist organizations in the region. The military aspect involves coalition forces searching and boarding ships entering the region for illegal cargo as well as providing training, the humanitarian aspect involves building schools, clinics and water wells to enforce the confidence of the local people. Since 2001, the expenditure by the U. S. government on Operation Enduring Freedom has exceeded $150 billion. The operation continues, with military direction mostly coming from United States Central Command, seizing upon a power vacuum after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan after their invasion, the Taliban assumed the role of government from 1996–2001. Their extreme interpretation of Islamic law prompted them to ban music, television, sports, and dancing, amputation was an accepted form of punishment for stealing, and public executions could often be seen at the Kabul football stadium. Womens rights groups around the world were frequently critical as the Taliban banned women from appearing in public or holding many jobs outside the home and they drew further criticism when they destroyed the Buddhas of Bamyan, historical statues nearly 1500 years old, because the Buddhas were considered idols. In 1996, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan upon the invitation of the Northern Alliance leader Abdur Rabb ur Rasool Sayyaf, when the Taliban came to power, bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his al-Qaeda organization. It is understood that al-Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001 and it has been suggested that the Taliban and bin Laden had very close connections. On 20 September 2001, the U. S. stated that Osama bin Laden was behind the 11 September attacks in 2001, the US made a five-point ultimatum to the Taliban, Deliver to the U. S
23.
M777 howitzer
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The M777 howitzer is a towed 155 mm artillery piece. It succeeded the M198 howitzer in the United States Marine Corps, the M777 is also used by the ground forces of Australia, Canada, India and Saudi Arabia. It made its debut in the War in Afghanistan. The M777 is manufactured by BAE Systems Global Combat Systems division, prime contract management is based in Barrow-in-Furness in the United Kingdom as well as manufacture and assembly of the titanium structures and associated recoil components. Final integration and testing of the weapon is undertaken at BAEs facility in Hattiesburg, the M777 began as the Ultralight-weight Field Howitzer, developed by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineerings armaments division in Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom. This company was bought by BAE Systems which ended up responsible for design, construction and assembly through its US-based, BAE Systems Land, the M777 uses about 70% US-built parts including the gun barrel manufactured at the Watervliet Arsenal. With a weight of 4,200 kg, the M777 is 41% lighter than the 7,154 kg M198 howitzer it replaces, much of the weight reduction is due to the extensive use of titanium. The M777 can be transported by helicopter sling-load, transporter aircraft such as the C-130, or towed by air-braked vehicles weighing over 2.5 tonnes, such as the FMTV, the minimal gun crew required is five, compared to a previous nine. The SELEX portion of the system, known as LINAPS, had been proven previously through earlier fielding on the British Army Royal Artillerys L118 Light Gun. The M777 may be combined with the M982 Excalibur GPS-guided munition and this almost doubles the area covered by a single battery to about 1,250 km2. Testing at the Yuma Proving Ground by the US Army placed 13 of 14 Excalibur rounds, fired from up to 24 kilometres, within 10 m of their target, suggesting a circular error probable of 5 m. In June 2012, Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, California, dropped the M982 Excalibur round on insurgents at a range of 36 km in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. This marked the longest operational shot in the history of the M777 howitzer, future upgrades include a touchscreen Chief Section Display, a new Mission System Computer, and a digital radio. M777A2 – Block 1A software upgrade, addition of an Enhanced Portable Inductive Artillery Fuze Setter to enable Excalibur and precision munition compatibility. Gun Section 2, 2nd Platoon Bravo Battery, 2–11th Field Artillery was the first US Army unit to fire the M777A2 in combat at 08,23 on 2 January 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 2–11 FA deployed December 2007 with 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Schofield Barracks, in June 2007, the M777 in its A2 configuration was assigned to the U. S. Armys 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment. In April 2008, the M777 was deployed for testing with the 2nd battalion, 8th Field Artillery of the U. S. Army at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, C Battery 1–108th FA was the first National Guard Unit to Shoot the M777 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. In May 2005, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines, based at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, five hundred and eighty systems will be supplied to the Marines, and 421 to the U. S. Army and National Guard
24.
Civil-military operations
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Civil-military operations or CMO are activities of a military force to minimize civil interference on and maximize civil support for military operations. CMO is conducted in conjunction with combat operations during wartime and becomes a part of a military campaign in counter-insurgencies. S. Also, some militaries have staff dedicated to planning and coordinating CMO for their command. CMO is often called civil-military co-operation or CIMIC in NATO operations, the U. S. Civil-military operations may include performance by military forces of activities and functions normally the responsibility of the local, regional, or national government. These activities may occur prior to, during, or subsequent to other military actions and they may also occur, if directed, in the absence of other military operations. Civil-military operations may be performed by designated civil affairs, by military forces, or by a combination of civil affairs
25.
Artillery battery
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The term is also used in a naval context to describe groups of guns on warships. Historically the term referred to a cluster of cannon in action as a group. Such batteries could be a mixture of cannon, howitzer, or mortar types, a siege could involve many batteries at different sites around the besieged place. The term also came to be used for a group of cannon in a fixed fortification and they were usually organised with between six and 12 ordnance pieces, often including cannon and howitzers. By the late 19th century battery had become standard mostly replacing company or troop, in the 20th century the term was generally used for the company level sub-unit of an artillery branch including field, air-defence, anti-tank and position. 20th-century firing batteries have been equipped with mortars, guns, howitzers, rockets, during the Napoleonic Wars some armies started grouping their batteries into larger administrative and field units. Groups of batteries combined for field combat employment called Grand Batteries by Napoleon, administratively batteries were usually grouped in battalions, regiments or squadrons and these developed into tactical organisations. These were further grouped into regiments, simply group or brigades, to further concentrate fire of individual batteries, from World War I they were grouped into artillery divisions in a few armies. Coastal artillery sometimes had completely different organizational terms based on shore defence sector areas, the rank of a battery commander has also varied, but is usually a lieutenant, captain, or major. The number of guns, howitzers, mortars or launchers in a battery has also varied. In the 19th century four to 12 guns was usual as the number to maneuver into the gun line. By late 19th century the artillery battery was divided into a gun line. The gun line consisted of six guns and 12 ammunition mules, during the American Civil War, artillery batteries often consisted of six field pieces for the Union Army and four for the Confederate States Army, although this varied. Batteries were divided into sections of two guns apiece, each section normally under the command of a lieutenant, the full battery was typically commanded by a captain. Often, particularly as the war progressed, individual batteries were grouped into battalions under a major or colonel of artillery, in the 20th century it varied between four and 12 for field artillery, or even two pieces for very heavy pieces. Other types of such as anti-tank or anti-aircraft have sometimes been larger. Some batteries have been dual-equipped with two different types of gun or mortar, and taking whichever was more appropriate when they deployed for operations, from the late 19th century field artillery batteries started to become more complex organisations. Fixed artillery refers to guns or howitzers on mounts that were anchored in one spot, or on carriages intended to be moved only for the purposes of aiming
26.
3rd Battalion, 12th Marines
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3rd Battalion 12th Marines is an artillery battalion comprising three firing batteries and a Headquarters Battery. The firing batteries are not permanently assigned to the battalion- they are all on 6 month rotations in Okinawa from the 10th Marine Regiment and the 11th Marine Regiment. The battalion is stationed at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, the battalion utilizes the Unit Deployment Program to fill its three firing batteries with detachments from artillery units across the Marine Corps. Provide direct support of the 3rd Marine Division in time of conflict and that support may come in the traditional fashion of artillery support to maneuver forces, or by providing batteries to serve as provisional rifle companies. They also have the mission of being the primary providers of civil-military operations. Headquarters Battery Three firing batteries rotating on unit deployment program assignments from the 10th Marines, 3rd Battalion 12th Marines was activated on September 16,1942 at Camp Elliott, California as part of the 3rd Marine Division
27.
Marine Corps Base Quantico
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Used primarily for training purposes, MCB Quantico is known as the Crossroads of the Marine Corps. Quantico Station is a place in Prince William County and Stafford counties in the U. S. state of Virginia. The population was 4,452 at the 2010 census, the designation Quantico Station is not in widespread local use, but is simply a name used by the Census Bureau to describe base housing on Marine Corps Base Quantico. The U. S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command, which develops strategies for U. S. Marine combat and makes up most of the community of over 12,000 military and civilian personnel is based here. It has a budget of around $300 million and is the home of the Marine Corps Officer Candidates School, the Marine Corps Research Center at Quantico pursues equipment research and development, especially telecommunications, for the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Brig, a prison, is also located at Quantico. In 2001, the base was designated as part of the Quantico Marine Corps Base Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places and this district includes 122 buildings, two landscapes, a sculpture, and a water tower located within the Mainside area of the base. The contributing properties with separate entries include Tennessee Camp, Camp French, Commanding Generals Quarters, Quantico Station is located at 38°30′07″N 77°18′21″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 8.1 square miles. The name Quantico Station is most often used to designate the metro station in Quantico, as of the census of 2000, there were 6,571 people,1,389 households, and 1,351 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 918.9 people per square mile, there were 1,645 housing units at an average density of 230. 0/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 73. 25% White,16. 01% African American,0. 46% Native American,2. 15% Asian,0. 15% Pacific Islander,3. 91% from other races, and 4. 08% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9. 37% of the population,2. 1% of all households were made up of individuals and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.57 and the family size was 3.57. In the CDP, the population was out with 32. 3% under the age of 18,29. 9% from 18 to 24,35. 5% from 25 to 44,2. 2% from 45 to 64. The median age was 22 years, for every 100 females there were 158.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 196.1 males, the median income for a household in the CDP was $41,429, and the median income for a family was $41,288. Males had an income of $24,478 versus $20,676 for females
28.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
29.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
30.
Brest, France
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Brest is a city in the Finistère département in Brittany in northwestern France. The city is located on the edge of continental Europe. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture of the department is the much smaller Quimper, during the Middle Ages, the history of Brest was the history of its castle. Then Richelieu made it a military harbour, Brest grew around its arsenal, until the second part of the 20th century. Heavily damaged by the Allies bombing raids during World War II, at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the deindustrialization of the city was followed by the development of the service sector. Nowadays, Brest is an important university town with 23,000 students, Brest is also an important research centre, mainly focused on the sea, with among others the largest Ifremer centre, le Cedre and the French Polar Institute. Brest’s history has always been linked to the sea, the Académie de Marine was founded in 1752 in this city, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was built there. Every four years, Brest hosts the festival of the sea, boats and sailors. Nothing definite is known of Brest before about 1240, when a count of Léon ceded it to John I, in 1342, John IV, Duke of Brittany, surrendered Brest to the English, in whose possession it was to remain until 1397. The importance of Brest in medieval times was great enough to rise to the saying. With the marriage of Francis I of France to Claude, the daughter of Anne of Brittany, the advantages of Brests situation as a seaport town were first recognized by Cardinal Richelieu, who in 1631 constructed a harbor with wooden wharves. This soon became a base for the French Navy, jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister under Louis XIV, rebuilt the wharves in masonry and otherwise improved the harbour. Fortifications by Vauban followed in 1680–1688 and these fortifications, and with them the naval importance of the town, were to continue to develop throughout the 18th century. In 1694, an English squadron under Lord Berkeley, was defeated in its attack on Brest. In 1917, during the First World War, Brest was used as the port for many of the troops coming from the United States. Thousands of such men came through the port on their way to the front lines, the United States Navy established a naval air station on 13 February 1918 to operate seaplanes. The base closed shortly after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, in the Second World War, the Germans maintained a large U-boat submarine base at Brest. In 1944, after the Allied invasion of Normandy, the city was almost totally destroyed during the Battle for Brest, with only a tiny number of buildings left standing
31.
Tours
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Tours is a city located in the centre-west of France. It is the centre of the Indre-et-Loire department and the largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. In 2012, the city of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants, Tours stands on the lower reaches of the River Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the province of Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection of its local spoken French. The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race, in Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD, the name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first Civitas Turonum then Tours. It was at time that the amphitheatre of Tours, one of the five largest amphitheatres of the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lugdunum towards 380–388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine, one of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a major centre during the Middle Ages. In the 6th century Gregory of Tours, author of the Ten Books of History, in the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the Carolingian Rebirth, in particular because of Alcuin abbot of Marmoutier. The outcome was defeat for the Muslims, preventing France from Islamic conquest, in 845, Tours repulsed the first attack of the Viking chief Hasting. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the Seine, still led by Hasting, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked Angers, Tours and the abbey of Marmoutier. During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres, in the west, the new city structured around the Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the City during the 10th century and became Châteauneuf. This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the centre of Tours. Between these two centres remained Varennes, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the Abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire, the two centres were linked during the 14th century. Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or Touraine and it was the capital of France at the time of Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of Montils, Tours and Touraine remained until the 16th century a permanent residence of the kings and court. The rebirth gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles and it is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day. At this time, the Catholics returned to power in Angers, the Massacre of Saint-Barthelemy was not repeated at Tours
32.
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
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The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U. S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling, and repairing the Navys ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U. S. Navy as well as the most multifaceted, located on the Elizabeth River, the yard is just a short distance upriver from its mouth at Hampton Roads. It was established as Gosport Shipyard in 1767, destroyed during the American Revolutionary War, it was rebuilt and became home to the first operational drydock in the United States in the 1820s. Changing hands during the American Civil War, it served the Confederate States Navy until it was destroyed in 1862. The shipyard was again rebuilt, and has continued operation through the present day, the Gosport Shipyard was founded on November 1,1767 by Andrew Sprowle on the western shore of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk County in the Virginia Colony. This shipyard became a naval and merchant facility for the British Crown. In 1775, at the beginning of the American Revolution, Sprowle stayed loyal to the Crown and fled Virginia, in 1779, while the newly formed Commonwealth of Virginia was operating the shipyard, it was burned by British troops. In 1794, United States Congress passed An Act to Provide a Naval Armament, in 1799 the keel of USS Chesapeake, one of the first six frigates authorized by Congress, was laid, making her the first ship built in Gosport for the U. S. Navy. The federal government purchased the shipyard from Virginia in 1801 for $12,000 and this tract of land measured 16 acres and now makes up the northeastern corner of the current shipyard. In 1827, construction began on the first of what would be the first two dry docks in the United States. The first one was completed three weeks ahead of projects in both Boston, Massachusetts and South America, making it the first functional dry dock in the Americas. Dry Dock One, as it is referred to today, is operational and is listed as historical landmark in Portsmouth. Officers Quarters A, B, and C were built about 1837, additional land on the eastern side of the Elizabeth River was purchased in 1845. Enslaved Labor, slave labor was utilized in the Norfolk Navy Yard from its foundation until the Civil War. Some idea of the scale can be found in this exert from a letter of Commodore Lewis Warrington dated 12 October 1831 to the Navy Board of Commissioners. Warringtons letter to the BNC, was in response to various worker petitions. usgwarchives. net/va/portsmouth/shipyard/nnysharp. html#enslaved> In 1861, fearing that the Confederacy would take control of the facility, the shipyard commander Charles Stewart McCauley ordered the burning of the shipyard. The Confederate forces did in fact take over the shipyard, the capture of the shipyard allowed a tremendous amount of war material to fall into Confederate hands. 1,195 heavy guns were taken for the defense of the Confederacy, and employed in areas from Hampton Roads all the way to Fort Donelson Tennessee, Port Hudson
33.
Tianjin
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Tianjin, formerly known in English as Tientsin, is a metropolis in northern coastal Mainland China and one of the five national central cities of the country, with a total population of 15,469,500. It is governed as one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the PRC and is thus under direct administration of the central government, Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in northern China, in terms of urban population, Tianjin is the fourth largest in China, after Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In terms of area population, Tianjin ranks fifth in Mainland China. The walled city of Tianjin was built in 1404, as a treaty port since 1860, Tianjin has been a major seaport and gateway to Beijing. During the Boxer Rebellion the city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government, under the Ta-tsing Empire, and the Republic of China, Tianjin became one of the largest cities in the region. At that time, numerous European-style buildings and mansions were constructed in concessions, after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, Tianjin suffered a depression due to the policy of the central government and Tangshan earthquake, but recovered from 1990s. As of the end of 2010, around 285 Fortune 500 companies have set up base in Binhai, Tianjin is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese characters 天津, which mean Heavenly Ford or Ford of Heaven. The origin of the name is obscure, one folk etymology is that it was an homage to the patriotic Chu poet Qu Yuan, whose Li Sao includes the verse. departing from the Ford of Heaven at dawn. Another is that it honors a former name of the Girl, a third is that it derives from a place name noted in the River Record of the History of Jin. The most common are that it was bestowed by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming, before this time, it was open sea. The opening of the Grand Canal during the Sui dynasty prompted the development of Tianjin into a trading center, during the Qing dynasty Tianjin was promoted to a prefecture or Zhou in 1725 with Tianjin County established under the prefecture in 1731. Later it was to upgraded to a prefecture or Fu before becoming a relay station under the command of the Viceroy of Zhili. In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and they captured 12 men and imprisoned them. In response, the British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku forts near Tianjin in May 1858. At the end of the first part of the Second Opium War in June of the year, the British and French prevailed, and the Treaties of Tianjin were signed. The treaties were ratified by the Emperor of China in 1860, and Tianjin was formally opened to Great Britain and France and these nations left many architectural reminders of their rule, notably churches and thousands of villas. Today those villas provide a flavour to Tianjin
34.
3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (United States)
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The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade is a United States Marine Corps unit that is the middleweight crises response force of choice in the Pacific Area of Operation. 3d MEB maintains a presence in the Pacific Theater to support contingencies. 3d MEB also conducts combined operations and training throughout the region in support of United States national security strategy. Upon arrival in Cuba with the 9th Marine Regiment, the Brigade took control of the 7th Marine Regiment and began to protect U. S. owned property, freeing up the Cuban Army to chase the rebels. In early 1918 rebel activity had subsided and the Brigade was relocated in August 1918 to Galveston, the following April the Brigade was deactivated. In March 1927, the 3rd Marine Brigade was again activated at MCB Quantico under the command of Brigadier General Smedley Butler, the Brigade subsequently deployed to Shanghai, China with artillery and aviation assets. Once they arrived in China, the brigade took control of the 4th Marine Regiment, in 1928, Chiang Kai-shek became president of China and the Brigade was subsequently withdrawn and deactivated in January 1929. In March 1942, the Brigade was reactivated at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina and deployed to Western Samoa, to garrison, the Brigade was again deactivated in November 1943. In 1946 the Marine Corps was ordered to begin demobilizing its ranks and they continued to perform occupation duties until the remaining Brigade personnel were absorbed into the 4th Marine Regiment in June and the Brigade again ceased to exist. Post-war Southern California and the newly established Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton saw massive numbers of Marines, the Brigade consisted primarily of administrative groups and some infantry units as they returned to the states to be deactivated. In May 1947 the 1st Marine Division reclaimed the rest of the returning from overseas as well as those in the Brigade. After the Marine Corps’ quick response to the Korean War and expansion of its ranks, in 1952 Congress mandated that the Marine Corps be maintained at a strength no less than three divisions and aircraft wings. In response, the Commandant of the Marine Corps designated the 3rd Marine Brigade as the nucleus of the soon to be reactivated 3rd Marine Division, in January 1952, the Brigade was absorbed by the division and once again ceased to exist. The MEB forces included the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, HMR-261, the show of force was over by August and the MEB was reabsorbed into the 3rd Marine Division. En route to the Republic of Vietnam, the MEB was redesignated the 3rd Marine Amphibious Brigade and they arrived off the coast later that month, conducted a landing in Chu Lai and established an expeditionary airfield. At the end of the month the MAB was deactivated and absorbed into the III Marine Amphibious Force, on 7 May, ground and air operations ceased, the last ground troops sailed in June, and the 3d MAB was subsequently deactivated. In January 2000 III MEF Forward, in the midst of supporting International Force for East Timor during Operation Stabilize, stood down, since its reactivation, it has been actively engaged in regional contingency planning as well as numerous joint and combined exercises. In late 2004, 3rd MEB provided most of the forces for Joint Task Force 535, during May and June 2006 the 3d MEB provided logistics and medical support to thousands of victims of the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake
35.
1st Battalion, 10th Marines
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1st Battalion, 10th Marines is an artillery battalion composed of five firing batteries and a headquarters battery. The battalion is stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and falls under the command of 10th Marine Regiment and its primary weapon system is the M777A2 155mm lightweight howitzer. The units mission is to direct artillery support for 2d Marine Division in time of conflict. That support may come in traditional fashion, i. e. artillery support to maneuver forces, the 2d Marine Brigade was renamed the 2d Marine Division on February 1,1941. During January 1942, 1/10 was deployed to American Samoa and detached from the 2d Marine Division, in November 1942, the unit was redeployed to Guadalcanal and attached to 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force. In December 1942, the unit was reassigned to 9th Marines, during July 1946, 1/10 was relocated to MCB Camp Lejeune, then deactivated on November 18,1947. The unit was reactivated to Camp Lejeune as 1st Battalion. 1/10 deployed to Cuba in response to the crisis from October to December 1962. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the battalion was deployed to Europe for participation in North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercises, during the 1980s, the battalion became a cold-weather-trained unit, conducting training at Fort Drum, New York and above the Arctic Circle. The battalion also transitioned to the 155mm Howitzer during this period and they regularly supported training operations at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms, California. Charlie Battery was deployed to Beirut, Lebanon in 1983 as a part of Battalion Landing Team 1/8, on 23 October, the battery lost eight Marines in the Beirut Barracks attack. While deployed to Beirut, Charlie Battery was the first U. S. artillery unit to fire the M198 155mm howitzer in combat, first Battalion participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Southwest Asia from August 1990 to February 1991. A Detachment from Bravo Battery aboard the USS IWO JIMA during MARG 2-92 participated in Operation Provide Promise from July to November 1992, from August to October 1994, an element of 1/10 participated in Operations Support Democracy and Uphold Democracy in Haiti. In February 2003, 1/10 deployed to Kuwait, it participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom. During the invasion the unit took part in the Battle of Nasiriyah, between September 2007 and April 2008, elements of 1/10 deployed to Iraq and were stationed throughout the Al Anbar province as part of TFMP. From November 2010 to May 2011 1/10 deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan
36.
1st Provisional Marine Brigade
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The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was a Marine infantry brigade of the United States Marine Corps that existed periodically from 1912 to 1950. It was an ad hoc unit formed for operations and not considered a permanent USMC unit. The brigade saw five brief activations for service over a 40-year span and it was activated once more in a brief organizational shift after the war. The brigade was formed again in 1950 when it was assembled for service in the Korean War. The brigade was deactivated for the last time when it was merged with the 1st Marine Division, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade varied in size and structure each time it was created. Headquarters and Service Company, the company comprising the headquarters staff, each iteration of the brigade was assigned provisional military police, signal and other supporting companies and platoons. This was not a practice for the U. S. Marine Corps. During World War II two other provisional Marine brigades were formed, which expanded into divisions. Component units varied considerably as well, in its first iteration in 1912, the brigade had only 1,200 men in two provisional regiments. When re-formed for duty in Iceland in 1941, it was based around volunteers from the 2nd Marine Division, volunteers from the division were moved into the 6th Marine Regiments 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, and the 10th Marine Regiments 2nd Battalion. It took 4,095 men from A Company of the 2nd Tank Battalion, A Company of the 2nd Service Battalion, for the Iceland deployment, the 5th Marine Defense Battalion was attached. In each of its iterations, the brigade was not organized as a permanent formation, typically it was created only as a temporary front-line unit while larger United States Marine units were formed. The brigade would then merge with these to form a Marine division, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was first created in 1912 for occupation duties in Cuba. Earlier that year, the Negro Rebellion had erupted throughout Cuba among former black slaves, a 1st Provisional Marine Regiment of 450 men under Colonel Lincoln Karmany was assembled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 22 May. At the same time, a 2nd Provisional Marine Regiment of 750 men under Colonel James Mahoney assembled at Key West, the two regiments sailed for Cuba aboard the USS Prairie, with 1st Battalion, 2nd Regiment, landing at Havana and the remainder of the force at Guantanamo. The Marines protected United States sugar plantations in Siboney and El Cobre until late July when the Cuban government was able to clamp down on the revolt, at that point, the Marines pulled back to Guantanamo, disbanded the brigade and returned home. Another 1st Marine Brigade was created again during the Occupation of Haiti. This brigade, however, was not considered a provisional unit, the 1st Marine Brigade was considered a separate unit lineage, and it was reactivated in 1941 and expanded to form the 1st Marine Division
37.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
38.
Marine Corps Air Station New River
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Marine Corps Air Station New River is a United States Marine Corps helicopter and tilt-rotor base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in the eastern part of the state. In 1972, the airfield was named McCutcheon Field for General Keith B, McCutcheon, one of the fathers of Marine Corps helicopter aviation. Near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, it shares facilities with Camp Geiger. B 362nd Training Squadron, Detachment 1, Operating Location A The base was originally 29 parcels of land, officials at Camp Lejeune investigated the area in search of an existing airfield for hosting aircraft in support of amphibious operations. Capt. Barnett Robinson, a member of Marine Glider Group 71, the location was placed under the command of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and received its first squadron, VMSB-331 from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on March 9,1943. On June 1, VMSB-331 was divided in half to create VMSB-332, however, both squadrons were soon after relocated to Bogue Field. From mid-1943 through August 1944, Marine bombing squadrons VMB-433, VMB-443 and this delineated the airfield from Camp Lejeune, and marks its official birth as a separate Marine Corps installation. As World War II came to an end, MCAAF Camp Lejeune was closed and reverted to caretaker status as an airfield of MCAS Cherry Point. This didn’t last long, however, as in 1951 the installation was reactivated and became Marine Corps Air Facility Peterfield Point, only one year later the name was changed again, this time to Marine Corps Air Facility New River. July 1954 marked the arrival of the first operational Marine Aircraft Group, MAG-26, the area faced another major name change in 1968, where it was recommissioned as Marine Corps Air Station New River, marking its growth from a small training area to a major operational airfield. MCAS New River has been host of the Global Rallycross racing series on Independence Day weekend since 2015, the race weekend was expanded to two rounds in 2016. The Air Station was the first Marine Corps base with the new MV-22 Osprey and it has the ability to fly like a plane, and take off and land like a helicopter. The MV-22 has replaced all of the CH-46E Sea Knights on the east coast with the exception of HMX-1, currently there are six operational Osprey squadrons, VMM-261, VMM-263, VMM-162, VMM-365, VMM-264, and VMM-266
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North Carolina
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North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U. S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties, the most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City. The state has a range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet at Mount Mitchell. The climate of the plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a highland climate. North Carolina is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, the United States Census Bureau places North Carolina in the South Atlantic division of the southern region. So many ships have been lost off Cape Hatteras that the area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the most famous of these is the Queen Annes Revenge, which went aground in Beaufort Inlet in 1718. The coastal plain transitions to the Piedmont region along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, the Piedmont region of central North Carolina is the states most populous region, containing the six largest cities in the state by population. It consists of rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges. The Piedmont ranges from about 300 feet in elevation in the east to about 1,500 feet in the west, the western section of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, the Black Mountains are the highest in the eastern United States, and culminate in Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina has 17 major river basins, the five basins west of the Blue Ridge Mountains flow to the Gulf of Mexico, while the remainder flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 17 basins,11 originate within the state of North Carolina, but only four are contained entirely within the states border – the Cape Fear, the Neuse, the White Oak, and the Tar-Pamlico basin. Elevation above sea level is most responsible for temperature change across the state, the climate is also influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, especially in the coastal plain. These influences tend to cause warmer winter temperatures along the coast, the coastal plain averages around 1 inch of snow or ice annually, and in many years, there may be no snow or ice at all. North Carolina experiences severe weather in summer and winter, with summer bringing threat of hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rain
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Samoa
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The Independent State of Samoa, commonly known as Samoa and, until 1997, known as Western Samoa, is a unitary parliamentary democracy with eleven administrative divisions. The two main islands are Savaii and Upolu with four smaller islands surrounding the landmasses, the Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a language and cultural identity. Samoa is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, which includes American Samoa, was called Navigator Islands by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans seafaring skills. The oldest date so far for remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s. The origins of the Samoans are closely studied in research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics. Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century, jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768, contact was limited before the 1830s, which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving. Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 by John Williams, of the London Missionary Society arriving in Sapapalii from The Cook Islands and Tahiti. However, Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived in Samoa from 1889 until his death in 1894, wrote in A Footnote to History, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, … the Samoans are gentle people. The Germans in particular began to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands, especially on the island of Upolu, the United States laid its own claim and formed alliances with local native chieftains, most conspicuously on the islands of Tutuila and Manua. Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights and this was followed by an eight-year civil war, during which each of the three powers supplied arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties. The Samoan crisis came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent, a massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict. The Second Samoan Civil War reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, the Siege of Apia occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by a force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mataafa Iosefo. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships, after several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were finally defeated. American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899, including the USS Philadelphia, the eastern island-group became a territory of the United States and was known as American Samoa
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Guam
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Guam is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, Guam is one of five American territories with a civilian government. The capital city is Hagåtña and the most populous city is Dededo, in 2015,161,785 people resided on Guam. Guamanians are American citizens by birth, Guam has an area of 210 sq mi and a population density of 770/sq mi. It is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia, among its municipalities, Mongmong-Toto-Maite has the highest density at 3, 691/sq mi, whereas Inarajan and Umatac have the lowest density at 119/sq mi. The highest point is Mount Lamlam at 406 meters above sea level, the Chamorros, Guams indigenous people, settled the island approximately 4,000 years ago. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to visit the island on March 6,1521, Guam was colonized in 1668 with settlers, like Diego Luis de San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. Between the 16th century and the 18th century, Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons, during the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam on June 21,1898. Under the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Guam to the United States on December 10,1898, Guam is among the seventeen Non-Self-Governing Territories of the United Nations. Before World War II, Guam and three other territories – American Samoa, Hawaii, and the Philippines – were the only American jurisdictions in the Pacific Ocean. On December 7,1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Guam was captured by the Japanese, during the occupation, Guamanians were subjected to beheadings, forced labor, rape, and torture. Guam endured hostilities when American forces recaptured the island on July 21,1944, since the 1960s, the economy is supported by two industries, tourism and the United States Armed Forces. The original inhabitants of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are believed to be descendants of Austronesian people originating from Southeast Asia as early as 2000 BC and they evolved into the Chamorro people. The ancient-Chamorro society had four classes, chamorri, matua, achaot, the matua were located in the coastal villages, which meant they had the best access to fishing grounds, whereas the manachang were located in the interior of the island. Matua and manachang rarely communicated with other, and matua often used achaot as intermediaries. There were also makåhna, skilled in healing and medicine, belief in spirits of ancient Chamorros called Taotao mona still persists as a remnant of pre-European culture. Their society was organized along matrilineal clans, Latte stones are stone pillars that are found only in the Mariana Islands, and, they are a recent development in Pre-Contact Chamorro society. The latte-stone was used as a foundation on which thatched huts were built, Latte stones consist of a base shaped from limestone called the haligi and with a capstone, or tåsa, made either from a large brain coral or limestone, placed on top
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Busan
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Busan, officially Busan Metropolitan City, romanized as Pusan before 2000, is South Koreas second most-populous city after Seoul, with a population of approximately 3.6 million. The population of the area, including the adjacent cities of Gimhae. The city is located on the southeastern-most tip of the Korean peninsula, located within South Koreas largest industrial area, The Southeast Economic Zone, the city is the cultural, educational and economic center of the region. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth busiest seaport by cargo tonnage. The most densely built up areas of the city are situated in a number of narrow valleys between the Nakdong River and the Suyeong River, with mountains separating most of the districts, administratively, it is designated as a Metropolitan City. The Busan metropolitan area is divided into 15 major administrative districts, Busan was the host city of the 2002 Asian Games and the APEC2005 Korea. It was also one of the host cities for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, on November 14,2005, the city authorities officially announced its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics Games. After Pyeongchangs successful bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Busan is considering bidding to host the 2028 or 2032 Summer Olympics, Busan has Koreas largest beach and longest river, and is home to the worlds largest department store, the Shinsegae Centum City. Geochilsan-guk existed in the second and 3rd and 4th centuries as a chiefdom of Jinhan and it was absorbed by Silla and renamed Geochilsan-gun. The word Geochilsan means rough mountain, probably referring to Hwangbyeongsan, the mounded burials of Bokcheon-dong were built along the top of a ridge that overlooks a wide area that makes up parts of modern-day Dongnae-gu and Yeonje-gu. Archaeologists excavated more than 250 iron weapons and ingots from Burial No,38, a wooden chamber tomb at Bokcheon-dong. In 757, Geochilsan-gun was again renamed Dongnae, which it is still called, from the beginning of the 15th century, the Korean government designated Busan as a trading port with the Japanese and allowed their settlement. Other Japanese settlements in Ulsan and Jinhae diminished later, but the Busan settlement, called Waegwan at the time, after the war, diplomatic relations with the new shogunate in Japan were established in 1607, and Busan Waegwan was permitted to be reconstructed. The Japanese settlement, though relocated into Choryang later, continued to exist until Korea was exposed to modern diplomacy in 1876, in 1876, Busan became the first international port in Korea. During the Japanese rule, Busan developed into a hub trading port with Japan, Busan was the only city in Korea to adopt the steam tramway before electrification was introduced in 1924. During the Korean War, Busan was one of two cities in South Korea not captured by the North Korean army within the first three months of the War. As a result, the city became a camp site for Koreans during the war. As Busan was one of the few areas in Korea that remained under the control of South Korea throughout the Korean War, UN troops established a defensive perimeter around the city known as the Pusan Perimeter in the summer and autumn of 1950
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Korea
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Korea is a historical state in East Asia, since 1945 divided into two distinct sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and it is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan. Korea emerged as a political entity after centuries of conflict among the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Later Silla divided into three states during the Later Three Kingdoms period. Goryeo, which had succeeded Goguryeo, defeated the two states and united the Korean Peninsula. Around the same time, Balhae collapsed and its last crown prince fled south to Goryeo, Goryeo, whose name developed into the modern exonym Korea, was a highly cultured state that created the worlds first metal movable type in 1234. However, multiple invasions by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty during the 13th century greatly weakened the nation, following the Yuan Dynastys collapse, severe political strife followed, and Goryeo eventually fell to a coup led by General Yi Seong-gye, who established Joseon in 1388. The first 200 years of Joseon were marked by peace and saw the creation of the Korean alphabet by Sejong the Great in the 14th century. During the later part of the dynasty, however, Koreas isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname of the Hermit Kingdom, by the late 19th century, the country became the object of imperial design by the Empire of Japan. Despite attempts at modernization by the Korean Empire, in 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan and these circumstances soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their incapability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. To date, both continue to compete with each other as the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. Korea is the spelling of Corea, a name attested in English as early as 1614. It is a derived from Cauli, Marco Polos transcription of the Chinese 高麗. This was the Hanja for the Korean kingdom of Goryeo or Koryŏ, Goryeos name was a continuation of the earlier Goguryeo or Koguryŏ, the northernmost of the Samguk, which was officially known by the shortened form Goryeo after the 5th-century reign of King Jangsu. The original name was a combination of the go with the name of a local Yemaek tribe. The name Korea is now used in English contexts by both North and South Korea. In South Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as Hanguk, the name references the Samhan—Ma, Jin, and Byeon—who preceded the Three Kingdoms in the southern and central end of the peninsula during the 1st centuries BC and AD. It has been linked with the title khan used by the nomads of Manchuria
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Korean Demilitarized Zone
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The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a highly militarized strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula. It was established at the end of the Korean War to serve as a zone between the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. The DMZ is a de facto border barrier that divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half and it was created by agreement between North Korea, China and the United Nations in 1953. The DMZ is 250 kilometres long, and about 4 kilometres wide, within the DMZ is a meeting-point between the two nations in the small Joint Security Area near the western end of the zone, where negotiations take place. There have been incidents in and around the DMZ, with military. Several tunnels are claimed to have built as an invasion route for the North Koreans. The Korean Demilitarized Zone intersects but does not follow the 38th parallel north and it crosses the parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it. The DMZ is 250 kilometres long, approximately 4 km wide, though the zone separating both sides is demilitarized, beyond that strip the border is one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world. The Northern Limit Line, or NLL, is the disputed maritime demarcation line between North and South Korea in the Yellow Sea, not agreed in the armistice, the coastline and islands on both sides of the NLL are also heavily militarized. Upon the creation of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948, it became a de facto international border, both the North and the South remained dependent on their sponsor states from 1948 to the outbreak of the Korean War. In the Armistice Agreement of 27 July 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed to move their troops back 2,000 m from the front line, creating a buffer zone 4 km wide. The Military Demarcation Line goes through the center of the DMZ, the armistice agreement explains exactly how many military personnel and what kind of weapons are allowed in the DMZ. Sporadic outbreaks of violence have killed over 500 South Korean soldiers,50 US soldiers and 250 soldiers from DPRK along the DMZ between 1953 and 1999, Daeseong-dong and Kijŏng-dong are the only settlements allowed by the armistice committee to remain within the boundaries of the DMZ. Residents of Tae Sung Dong are governed and protected by the United Nations Command and are required to spend at least 240 nights per year in the village to maintain their residency. In 2008, the village had a population of 218 people, the villagers of Tae Sung Dong are direct descendants of people who owned the land before the 1950–53 Korean War. To continue to deter North Korean incursion, in 2014 the United States government exempted the Korean DMZ from its pledge to eliminate anti-personnel landmines, inside the DMZ, near the western coast of the peninsula, Panmunjom is the home of the Joint Security Area. There are several buildings on both the north and the side of the Military Demarcation Line, and there have been some built on top of it. The JSA is the location where all negotiations since 1953 have been held, including statements of Korean solidarity, the MDL goes through the conference rooms and down the middle of the conference tables where the North Koreans and the United Nations Command meet face to face
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Camp Hansen
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Camp Hansen is a United States Marine Corps base located in Okinawa, Japan. The camp is situated in the town of Kin, near the shore of Kin Bay. Camp Hansen holds the record for the most Marines that re-enlist in the Marine Corps, the camp houses approximately 6,000 Marines nowadays, and is part of Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, which itself is not a physical base and comprises all Marine Corps installations on Okinawa. Camp Hansen is named for Medal of Honor recipient Dale M. Hansen, Hansen was killed by a Japanese snipers bullet three days after his actions on Hill 60. Also located at Camp Hansen is a brig, a confinement facility that houses U. S. military members from around the Far East for short term sentences, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden and published by The Intercept, site hosts NSA collection facility codenamed CAMELUS. In September 1995 a controversy erupted when three U. S. servicemen stationed in Camp Hansen rented a van, kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old Japanese girl, list of U. S. Marine Corps bases Camp Hansen. Archived from the original on 25 December 2008, an Insiders Guide to USMC Bases
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Okinawa Prefecture
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The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller ones are mostly coral islands. The largest of the islands is Okinawa, the climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate in the north to tropical rainforest climate in the south. Precipitation is very high, and is affected by the rainy season, the islands beyond the Tokara Strait are characterized by their coral reefs. The Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama Islands have a native population collectively called the Ryukyuan people, the varied Ryukyuan languages are traditionally spoken on these islands, and the major islands have their own distinct languages. In modern times, the Japanese language is the language of the islands. The northern islands are called the Satsunan Islands, while the southern part of the chain are called the Ryukyu Islands in Japanese. Following are the grouping and names used by the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of the Japan Coast Guard, the islands are listed from north to south where possible. Nansei Islands Satsunan Islands Ōsumi Islands with, Tanegashima, Yaku, Kuchinoerabu, Mageshima in the North-Eastern Group and they agreed on February 15,2010, to use Amami-guntō for the Amami Islands, prior to that, Amami-shotō had also been used. The English and Japanese uses of the term Ryukyu differ, in English, the term Ryukyu may apply to the entire chain of islands, while in Japanese Ryukyu usually refers only to the islands that were previously part of the Ryūkyū Kingdom after 1624. Nansei-shotō is the name for the whole island chain in Japanese. Japan has used the name on nautical charts since 1907, based on the Japanese charts, the international chart series uses Nansei Shoto. Nansei literally means southwest, the direction of the chain from mainland Japan. Some humanities scholars prefer the uncommon term Ryūkyū-ko for the island chain. In geology, however, the Ryukyu Arc includes subsurface structures such as the Okinawa Trough, the name of Ryūkyū is strongly associated with the Ryūkyū Kingdom, a kingdom that originated from the Okinawa Islands and subjected the Sakishima and Amami Islands. The name is considered outdated in Japanese although some entities of Okinawa still bear the name. In Japanese, the Ryukyu Islands cover only the Okinawa, Miyako, the northern half of the island chain is referred to as the Satsunan Islands in Japanese, as opposed to Northern Ryukyu Islands in English. Humanities scholars generally agree that the Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, there is, however, no good name for the group. The native population do not have their own name, since they do not recognize themselves as a group this size, Ryukyu is the principal candidate because it roughly corresponds to the maximum extent of the Ryūkyū Kingdom
United States of America
United States Marine Corps
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.
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